Systems and methods for automatically extracting data by narrowing data search scope using contour matching

In a document analysis system that receives and processes jobs from a plurality of users, in which each job may contain multiple electronic documents, to extract data from the electronic documents, a method of extracting data by narrowing a scope of data search using contour matching of select elements in a document, the method comprising:

• analyzing each document to automatically extract images and text features wherein said analyzing compares extracted features with a first search space of candidate features to try and recognize the extracted features;
• automatically processing each unrecognized feature using a contour recognition engine to generate a contour of the unrecognized feature;
• automatically selecting a second search space of candidate features through contour matching using the contour of the unrecognized feature, wherein the second search space of candidate features is narrower than the first search space of candidate features;
• and
• comparing the unrecognized feature with said second search space to identify the previously unrecognized feature.